loladelorean
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2010
- Messages
- 1,371
Day 3 Tuesday 9th November
We were up a little later today, and made it down for around 8am breakfast. The Parkside Diner was very busy, it turned out to be getting used for the conference, so we were seated in the Manhattan Restaurant. We were delighted, we love the décor in here and the comfy seats! A very elegant start to the day. Met this guy on the way, with nobody else around.
My mum decided to go back to the room while we did EMH, and we agreed to meet her at Salon Mickey later. (partly because of her back problems, she did DLP the relaxing way, with lots of rests, but she still had a great time!)
So it was back to the park for me and sister, Im pretty sure it was raining again but not as heavily as the day before. EMH was very quiet, even though we werent there for the start, and everything was a walk on. We went on Buzz, Space Mountain, Buzz again, Pinocchio (this was open because Dumbo was closed, very pleased because wed never ridden it before), Peter Pan, the Teacups, then Space Mountain again just to make sure we were awake!
Here is a nice photo sister took:
We met up with mum at Salon Mickey about 9.45am. I was so excited to knock on the little door for the first time! It was opened quickly by a lovely CM, who took our tickets and my shareholders card and said we could have 2 food items each, and help ourselves to drinks inside. We all had a pastry or croissant, and a piece of fruit, the chocolate pastries in there are delicious!
I felt very important being in Salon Mickey, and loved the atmosphere. There was always traditional Christmas carols playing, which we thought a nice touch, and it provided a little haven away from the weather (and the crowds, later in the week). We have photos later in the week, I'm really rubbish at remembering to take photos while I'm taking something in for the first time, oops.
After half an hour looking at everything in Salon Mickey and relaxing, it was back into the park (via the Salon Mickey back door, again making us feel very important!)
Because Pinocchio was to be closed for the rest of our stay, and we had enjoyed it, we took mum back on that one before another ride on Peter Pan. Even though EMH was over everything was still a walk on! My mum was amazed at Peter Pan, she hadnt ridden it since 1994 and said it was much more magical than she remembered. After this we were dying to explore Belles Village. Just as we arrived, we bumped into Belle and her Prince they were wandering around a bit aimlessly, seemingly trying to locate their meet and greet spot. We followed them...
and because there really werent a lot of people around, we were first in the queue when they figured out where they were meant to be. Usually we dont bother with characters where you need to queue, so this always means no princesses, so it was lovely to get this great photo.
We had picked up BTM fastpasses again earlier, so after a look at all the stalls in Belles Village, it was time to go back on our favourite ride! We probably shouldnt have bothered with fastpasses as there wasnt much of a regular queue either, and we managed to get on the front of the train making it even more fun.
We wanted to show mum Santas Village with all the snow etc, so we got a few photos round there.
These elves were all from England and were very funny!
Coming out of Woodys Roundup area, there were lots of characters around the Cowboy Cookout so we got some more fun photos.
Overall, we thought there were significantly more characters around this year than there had been in September 2009. It seemed that everywhere you went there were characters, it was fantastic, and we saw many kids having magical moments with them. Thumbs up Disney!
Indiana Jones is a ride we find a bit boring, but we thought we might as well give it a go on the way to Pirates. It was just a 5 minute wait, and was OK but compared to the other coasters at DLP it just feels like theres something missing with this one, I dont know what. On the plus side, the harness is the most comfortable of all the thrill rides!
Then the 3 of us went on Pirates, and were seated at the front of the boat. We got excited passing Blue Lagoon as we had dinner booked there for Thursday. We all loved the ride, especially my mum who couldnt believe the detail and length of it (she insists she doesnt remember anything about this ride, but Im pretty sure she and I went on it in 2006. Anyway ) Because we were sitting at the front, our ride photo was great and we bought it. Ill need to take a photo of the photo to add in.
We had all been impressed with Blockbuster Café on our short visit yesterday, and decided this was where we wanted to eat lunch today. On our way out of the park, it was snowing on Main Street! With Carol of the Bells playing, it was truly magical.
While I nipped to the loo in Front Lot, the other 2 met Mickey in his Christmas outfit with no crowds! Lucky them.
And once inside, there were yet more characters about, including this guy who wed never met before.
We had a nice lunch, very reasonably priced, in the Blockbuster Café, sitting in the Pirates side. My mum was hoping Jack Sparrow might make an appearance but no luck. I had a cheese and mushroom toastie (nom nom) followed by Mickey brioche, and the other 2 had Mickey pizzas.
After lunch we were very excited for Stars n Cars, and staked out a good spot in front of the stage. It was raining a bit but it was bearable. When the parade came though, it didnt stop at all and we were really disappointed not to see the little show. Its pretty feeble without it, in my opinion. Presumably it wasnt on due to the rain.
The next Stitch Live in English didnt start for 20 minutes, enough time for sister and I to race over and ride RC Racer again, picking up ToT fastpasses on the way. We met mum back at Stitch Live, and raced in just in time for the start. Mum didnt know what to expect with this, and thought it was very clever and funny. A guy in our row was the Space prison escapee, and a woman we had spoken to on the Eurostar was Stitchs girlfriend. There were a few parts of the show we had never seen before, and although the main format is the same, it never stops being funny!
We were planning to visit Val DEurope either today or Wednesday, but as the rain was getting worse we thought we would just go today. So after our ToT ride, we headed back to the hotel to get changed. We booked the shuttle at concierge for 5 euros per person to pick us up half an hour later.
I had won 50 euros of vouchers to spend at La Vallee Village, little did I know that there is nothing to be had at La Vallee Village for 50 euros. I spent a fairly miserable hour or so traipsing the designer shops searching in vain for something I could get with my winnings. Maybe Im a bit strange, but I really dont like designer clothes. I like to look good, but I dont understand why you would pay so much more for a name on something. E.g. 200 euros for a bog standard t shirt, allegedly with 30% off. The sales people in the shops looked at us like we were dirt too, like in Pretty Woman. Not an enjoyable experience.
When we reached the end of La Vallee Village, we were delighted to see a normal mall and spent another hour or so in there. Sister got a couple of things in H&M, we all got make up in Sephora, and we enjoyed listening to a pianist and guitarist playing in the middle of the mall. My mum got a couple of Christmas presents too, and a necklace for herself. I still hadnt spent my stupid vouchers, so we had to go back through La Vallee Village. We found tiny Guess bags for 56 euros, but they were really girly and totally not my style. My mum got one for our cousin, to give her for Christmas, and said she would get me something back at DLP to make up for not getting to use my prize. Nice mummy! The woman in front of us in Guess had her bag beautifully wrapped in cloth etc, but when the sales girl saw we were using vouchers, she visibly turned her nose up at us and just threw it into a carrier bag. The opposite of Disney service!
So, back to HNY, phew. The rain was nearly off so we were hopeful about the fireworks for tonight. We didnt have any meal booked for tonight, and sister really wanted to go to Rainforest Café. I was a bit resistant as no shareholders discount, but this is where we ended up and Im very glad we did. We were seated straight away quite near the door, under the giant mushroom. I had yet another cocktail, mum had yet more wine, and the meal was great.
Sister had the turkey escalope, mum had a starter size Caesar salad, and I had the Fajita Party wow!
Thankfully mum helped me with these a bit, as there were loads, yum I love fajitas! The chicken was really nice and spicy and you got loads of sauce etc. For dessert, I had banana toffee pancakes (I can never resist any banoffee offering) and sister had some monstrous chocolate brownie ice cream concoction, which she loved. And mum had another Café Gourmand, these were her favourite thing about the trip!
We made friends with the family sitting next to us again after the little boy tapped me on the arm to tell me their names and ask ours, he was so cute! They were Irish too, the boys were 4 year old twins, and they had just arrived for their first ever DLP visit. We gave them a few tips (in true DIS fashion) and had a good laugh over the funny things the boys were saying.
When we emerged, very full, from Rainforest Café, the rain was off! Hurrah, the fireworks would be on! Sure enough, the lake was buzzing with people, and we got hot chocolates before finding a spot in front of HNY.
The first part was Mickeys Bonfire, which was more of a light show than fireworks, but very good and reminded us a bit of Fantasmic in WDW. We wished we had stood at Sequoia to see Mickey better though. The fireworks display itself was incredible, nobody does fireworks like Disney. There was every genre of music you can imagine, I quite liked the fact that the music changed so much as it was great to see how the coordinate the fireworks to the sounds. At least 3 times it seemed to build up to a finale, and I thought it must be ending, only to go on to an even more intense or exciting part. If only DLP could have fireworks more often, this was really an excellent part of the trip which Id recommend if anyone is considering Bonfire season next year. Sorry no photos again, was too busy watching it. Call myself a trip reporter...
Newport Bay for cocktails tonight! We had originally booked for NBC and upgraded to HNY later on, and we were quite glad because with the path being shut at the other side of the lake it is quite a trek to NBC. This wouldnt bother us too much, but with the weather we experienced we were back at the hotel a lot and the extra 5-10 minutes each time would have been miserable.
Anyway, my mum has always wanted to stay at NBC due to the New England style and she loved it even more inside. We all liked it better than we expected to, very fresh and elegant. Pausing to look at everything, we had our way to the bar where of course more cocktails were in order.
A very friendly and funny CM kindly offered to take our photo.
And we got the obligatory Christmas tree shots.
We left the NBC saying that we really did need to stay there one day, in the summer maybe. Just as we had said we needed to stay at SL after visiting there last night well if 2 trips are needed, then so be it!
We were up a little later today, and made it down for around 8am breakfast. The Parkside Diner was very busy, it turned out to be getting used for the conference, so we were seated in the Manhattan Restaurant. We were delighted, we love the décor in here and the comfy seats! A very elegant start to the day. Met this guy on the way, with nobody else around.
My mum decided to go back to the room while we did EMH, and we agreed to meet her at Salon Mickey later. (partly because of her back problems, she did DLP the relaxing way, with lots of rests, but she still had a great time!)
So it was back to the park for me and sister, Im pretty sure it was raining again but not as heavily as the day before. EMH was very quiet, even though we werent there for the start, and everything was a walk on. We went on Buzz, Space Mountain, Buzz again, Pinocchio (this was open because Dumbo was closed, very pleased because wed never ridden it before), Peter Pan, the Teacups, then Space Mountain again just to make sure we were awake!
Here is a nice photo sister took:
We met up with mum at Salon Mickey about 9.45am. I was so excited to knock on the little door for the first time! It was opened quickly by a lovely CM, who took our tickets and my shareholders card and said we could have 2 food items each, and help ourselves to drinks inside. We all had a pastry or croissant, and a piece of fruit, the chocolate pastries in there are delicious!
I felt very important being in Salon Mickey, and loved the atmosphere. There was always traditional Christmas carols playing, which we thought a nice touch, and it provided a little haven away from the weather (and the crowds, later in the week). We have photos later in the week, I'm really rubbish at remembering to take photos while I'm taking something in for the first time, oops.
After half an hour looking at everything in Salon Mickey and relaxing, it was back into the park (via the Salon Mickey back door, again making us feel very important!)
Because Pinocchio was to be closed for the rest of our stay, and we had enjoyed it, we took mum back on that one before another ride on Peter Pan. Even though EMH was over everything was still a walk on! My mum was amazed at Peter Pan, she hadnt ridden it since 1994 and said it was much more magical than she remembered. After this we were dying to explore Belles Village. Just as we arrived, we bumped into Belle and her Prince they were wandering around a bit aimlessly, seemingly trying to locate their meet and greet spot. We followed them...
and because there really werent a lot of people around, we were first in the queue when they figured out where they were meant to be. Usually we dont bother with characters where you need to queue, so this always means no princesses, so it was lovely to get this great photo.
We had picked up BTM fastpasses again earlier, so after a look at all the stalls in Belles Village, it was time to go back on our favourite ride! We probably shouldnt have bothered with fastpasses as there wasnt much of a regular queue either, and we managed to get on the front of the train making it even more fun.
We wanted to show mum Santas Village with all the snow etc, so we got a few photos round there.
These elves were all from England and were very funny!
Coming out of Woodys Roundup area, there were lots of characters around the Cowboy Cookout so we got some more fun photos.
Overall, we thought there were significantly more characters around this year than there had been in September 2009. It seemed that everywhere you went there were characters, it was fantastic, and we saw many kids having magical moments with them. Thumbs up Disney!
Indiana Jones is a ride we find a bit boring, but we thought we might as well give it a go on the way to Pirates. It was just a 5 minute wait, and was OK but compared to the other coasters at DLP it just feels like theres something missing with this one, I dont know what. On the plus side, the harness is the most comfortable of all the thrill rides!
Then the 3 of us went on Pirates, and were seated at the front of the boat. We got excited passing Blue Lagoon as we had dinner booked there for Thursday. We all loved the ride, especially my mum who couldnt believe the detail and length of it (she insists she doesnt remember anything about this ride, but Im pretty sure she and I went on it in 2006. Anyway ) Because we were sitting at the front, our ride photo was great and we bought it. Ill need to take a photo of the photo to add in.
We had all been impressed with Blockbuster Café on our short visit yesterday, and decided this was where we wanted to eat lunch today. On our way out of the park, it was snowing on Main Street! With Carol of the Bells playing, it was truly magical.
While I nipped to the loo in Front Lot, the other 2 met Mickey in his Christmas outfit with no crowds! Lucky them.
And once inside, there were yet more characters about, including this guy who wed never met before.
We had a nice lunch, very reasonably priced, in the Blockbuster Café, sitting in the Pirates side. My mum was hoping Jack Sparrow might make an appearance but no luck. I had a cheese and mushroom toastie (nom nom) followed by Mickey brioche, and the other 2 had Mickey pizzas.
After lunch we were very excited for Stars n Cars, and staked out a good spot in front of the stage. It was raining a bit but it was bearable. When the parade came though, it didnt stop at all and we were really disappointed not to see the little show. Its pretty feeble without it, in my opinion. Presumably it wasnt on due to the rain.
The next Stitch Live in English didnt start for 20 minutes, enough time for sister and I to race over and ride RC Racer again, picking up ToT fastpasses on the way. We met mum back at Stitch Live, and raced in just in time for the start. Mum didnt know what to expect with this, and thought it was very clever and funny. A guy in our row was the Space prison escapee, and a woman we had spoken to on the Eurostar was Stitchs girlfriend. There were a few parts of the show we had never seen before, and although the main format is the same, it never stops being funny!
We were planning to visit Val DEurope either today or Wednesday, but as the rain was getting worse we thought we would just go today. So after our ToT ride, we headed back to the hotel to get changed. We booked the shuttle at concierge for 5 euros per person to pick us up half an hour later.
I had won 50 euros of vouchers to spend at La Vallee Village, little did I know that there is nothing to be had at La Vallee Village for 50 euros. I spent a fairly miserable hour or so traipsing the designer shops searching in vain for something I could get with my winnings. Maybe Im a bit strange, but I really dont like designer clothes. I like to look good, but I dont understand why you would pay so much more for a name on something. E.g. 200 euros for a bog standard t shirt, allegedly with 30% off. The sales people in the shops looked at us like we were dirt too, like in Pretty Woman. Not an enjoyable experience.
When we reached the end of La Vallee Village, we were delighted to see a normal mall and spent another hour or so in there. Sister got a couple of things in H&M, we all got make up in Sephora, and we enjoyed listening to a pianist and guitarist playing in the middle of the mall. My mum got a couple of Christmas presents too, and a necklace for herself. I still hadnt spent my stupid vouchers, so we had to go back through La Vallee Village. We found tiny Guess bags for 56 euros, but they were really girly and totally not my style. My mum got one for our cousin, to give her for Christmas, and said she would get me something back at DLP to make up for not getting to use my prize. Nice mummy! The woman in front of us in Guess had her bag beautifully wrapped in cloth etc, but when the sales girl saw we were using vouchers, she visibly turned her nose up at us and just threw it into a carrier bag. The opposite of Disney service!
So, back to HNY, phew. The rain was nearly off so we were hopeful about the fireworks for tonight. We didnt have any meal booked for tonight, and sister really wanted to go to Rainforest Café. I was a bit resistant as no shareholders discount, but this is where we ended up and Im very glad we did. We were seated straight away quite near the door, under the giant mushroom. I had yet another cocktail, mum had yet more wine, and the meal was great.
Sister had the turkey escalope, mum had a starter size Caesar salad, and I had the Fajita Party wow!
Thankfully mum helped me with these a bit, as there were loads, yum I love fajitas! The chicken was really nice and spicy and you got loads of sauce etc. For dessert, I had banana toffee pancakes (I can never resist any banoffee offering) and sister had some monstrous chocolate brownie ice cream concoction, which she loved. And mum had another Café Gourmand, these were her favourite thing about the trip!
We made friends with the family sitting next to us again after the little boy tapped me on the arm to tell me their names and ask ours, he was so cute! They were Irish too, the boys were 4 year old twins, and they had just arrived for their first ever DLP visit. We gave them a few tips (in true DIS fashion) and had a good laugh over the funny things the boys were saying.
When we emerged, very full, from Rainforest Café, the rain was off! Hurrah, the fireworks would be on! Sure enough, the lake was buzzing with people, and we got hot chocolates before finding a spot in front of HNY.
The first part was Mickeys Bonfire, which was more of a light show than fireworks, but very good and reminded us a bit of Fantasmic in WDW. We wished we had stood at Sequoia to see Mickey better though. The fireworks display itself was incredible, nobody does fireworks like Disney. There was every genre of music you can imagine, I quite liked the fact that the music changed so much as it was great to see how the coordinate the fireworks to the sounds. At least 3 times it seemed to build up to a finale, and I thought it must be ending, only to go on to an even more intense or exciting part. If only DLP could have fireworks more often, this was really an excellent part of the trip which Id recommend if anyone is considering Bonfire season next year. Sorry no photos again, was too busy watching it. Call myself a trip reporter...
Newport Bay for cocktails tonight! We had originally booked for NBC and upgraded to HNY later on, and we were quite glad because with the path being shut at the other side of the lake it is quite a trek to NBC. This wouldnt bother us too much, but with the weather we experienced we were back at the hotel a lot and the extra 5-10 minutes each time would have been miserable.
Anyway, my mum has always wanted to stay at NBC due to the New England style and she loved it even more inside. We all liked it better than we expected to, very fresh and elegant. Pausing to look at everything, we had our way to the bar where of course more cocktails were in order.
A very friendly and funny CM kindly offered to take our photo.
And we got the obligatory Christmas tree shots.
We left the NBC saying that we really did need to stay there one day, in the summer maybe. Just as we had said we needed to stay at SL after visiting there last night well if 2 trips are needed, then so be it!
Santa's Grotto area looks fab! 
Loving your trip report and the photos are magical! Can I ask you about the HNY? I did post a Q on trip planning board but got no reply - Do you have to book your breakfast slot in HNY? and are they not doing the daily fastpass for guests any more? We stayed there years ago and you just turned up for breakfast at whatever time you wanted and they also gave everyone a fastpass each day.
